Should you go to the buffet or the main dining room on a cruise? I tried both.
 

Should you go to the buffet or the main dining room on a cruise? I tried both.

arnival Cruise Line’s newest ship, Carnival Venezia, marks some culinary firsts for the line. The Venice-inspired ship, which set sail from the U.S. this month, has dining options including Il Viaggio, a new restaurant serving regional Italian fare, and special on-theme menu items at Guy Fieri’s Guy’s Burger Joint.

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Depends on if you have kids for me. We took a few without the kids and loved the main dining room and restaurants. Someone serves you and the food always seems better to me. Much more relaxing than a buffet.

RCJ

See red above!

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I avoid all buffet's, anywhere.
I eat to much when let loose in those places!

We cruise with Royal Caribbean and utilize "my time" dining in the main dining room for dinner. Good deal: same time each evening, same table (if you want), pretty much the same dining companions and waitstaff each time. The more astute waitstaff get to know you and your preferences after a couple of times: My wife enjoys hot tea with lemon after dinner: it took only two times for Igor (our waiter from Serbia) to catch on to that and after that it appeared automatically at the end of the meal. Hot decaf for me: same deal.

Buffet is nice if you have a shore excursion planned and can't make "my time" (though it is no problem, maybe a short wait, if you show up at another time) in the main dining room. And the buffet is always stop #1 on embarkation day: board early (about 11:00 AM) and head for the Windjammer. But yes...buffet dining can get hectic; not all people have the same idea of proper etiquette in the buffet.

On a recent cruise on RCL’s Wonder of the Seas we dined in the Windjammer buffet twice. It was very crowded and the selection was just OK. The main dining room was much better and a very menu good selection. On sea days, we had breakfast in the main dining room. You can order the same items found at the buffet, but they are delivered hot and fresh. Based on the ship’s offerings, look for other restaurants that are part of the basic package, but might not be quite as crowded. On the Wonder, El Loco Fresh, Solarium Bistro, and The Park Cafe were good alternatives for breakfast and lunch.

AMEN to that. Dining room = portion control.

Out of the dozens of cruises we have taken, carnival was the worst, terrible food, entertainment, and more. Princess a RC are major steps above carnival in regards to places to eat. We go to the buffets for breakfast and for most lunches, and eat in the dining rooms for dinner. On the bigger boats like the Wonder of the Seas or the Oasis, the buffets can get very crowded when only 1 side is open but mellows out when both become open.

Traffic Jammer
 

I call the Windjammer aboard RCCL's ships the "Trafficjammer." No complaints about food, variety, quality. But I'm on vacay, yes? Negotiating my way around the food stations, juggling my cutlery while keeping an eye out for "darters"-- like fish at a coral reef--patiently waiting for the "I can't make up my minders," avoiding the "reparkers " --those who appear to park to dish up their food only to hit reverse suddenly and without warning. Waiting to get a drink at yet another station and finally hunting for a clean, free table. Feels like being at work! I enjoy having my coffee magically refilled in the dining room and just the sense of getting service. All that said, I do like the buffet for an early continental-style breakfast so I can sit outside and enjoy my coffee while gazing at the sea :)

Portion control?? Not really when you can order as many appetizers, main dishes and desserts as you want. And many times there are multiple things we want to try so we do just that.

We do both, and it really depends on our schedule and mood at the moment. All cruise lines, as far as I know, have their own app yo use while onboard. Makes it easy to look at the menu offerings for the MDR in advance. If we are getting back to the ship late from a shore excursion, and want to catch an evening show, it will likely mean a trip to the buffet to save time. The dining room is great if you want a relaxed experience, but sometimes dinners in the MDR can stretch to 2+ hours.

Our three most recent cruises were for 21, 15, and 18 days. One thing they all had in common was a recycled menu. The dinner menus would repeat every 7 days or so. A couple of those menus were not our cup of tea, so we would opt for the buffet, or a specialty restaurant. Some nights we would just want a salad, and that would be a trip to the buffet. A few times we went to the MDR, and simply had appetizers. That's one of the nice things about cruises...there are always options. Plus, you don't have to do the dishes.

Well we are talking Carnival.... so I'll take the dining room over the buffet, Royal? Dining room, Disney either works. NCL dining room, ok so most all it's dining room over buffet.

Cruise or not, I wouldn't touch a buffet with a 10-foot pole.

I go to the buffet for breakfast and lunch and normally go to the main dining rooms for dinner. Been on 16 cruises